Action Force - Red Shadow reinforcements

Some final infantry reinforcements mean that I have, at last, got enough Red Shadows for a decent Action Force game.

As before, these are Peter Pig late war Germans, a mixture of assault rifles (StG44) firing and advancing plus some German NCOs kneeling and standing.

I have enough for a good mix of fireteams including team leaders and support weapons.

I've recently purchased a copy of the Osprey Wargames Black Ops and have the first scenario planned...

Perhaps I'll even manage a game before Christmas!

Action Force - Red Shadow machine gun teams

 More support weapons for my Red Shadows, this time in the form of a couple of machine gun weapon teams.

They overhang my usual weapon team base size slightly but not enough to cause any problems.

These are Peter Pig late war LMG teams (MG42s).  Peter Pig doesn't tend to add much face detail on the prone gun teams because you don't really get to see those features during a normal game!

This actually made them easier to use than the normal Peter Pig figures.  I didn't try to shape the front of the helmet with Milliput, just painted it as it was.

Action Force - Red Shadow support weapons

 My Red Shadow army receives some much-needed support weapons at last.  The action figure Red Shadow came with a bazooka and these Peter Pig WWII late-war German Panzershreck troops need only a little bit of work to look the part.

An additional late-war LMG advancing figure becomes a Red Shadow machine-gunner.

Action Force - Z Force Infantry

 A few more Z Force infantry to add to my Action Force army.

A mixture of M16/M4 armed troops.

Some have M203s for added firepower.

Now they just need some more Red Shadows to fight!

Alien invaders

For £1 each from a local toy shop, these alien war machines should be good glued into fixed poses and repainted.  They're a slightly biomechanoid form which reminds me of some '80s anime mecha such as the Robotech Zentraedi Queadluun-Rau or Nousjadeul-Ger power armour or maybe more the Robotech Masters' Bioroids with a touch of Invid.  They loom over 15mm figures and will give my Critical Mass Games mecha or my Exo-squad/Robotech Destroids a good run for their money.

There are ball and socket joints at shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle to provide excellent poseability.  I'll be fixing them to round plasticard bases which should give stability to any running action poses.  A few old guitar strings and a bit of milliput will help augment their biomechanoid appearance.

One version has very long, clawed arms and a hefty axe, obviously a close-combat type.

There are large shoulder mounted objects, perhaps some sort of jump-assist jets.

Alternatively you can swivel them to point forward in a more menacing way.

The ball joints allow a range of threatening poses.  With a bit of brass rod and some milliput I can add some recessed anti-personnel gun barrels to the forearms.

The ranged attack type has a rather odd weapon which has a Giger-esque alien head with a gun barrel protruding from the mouth!

I can just imagine those claws scooping up screaming civilians for cruel alien experimentation purposes...

Shoulder mounts in this one appear to be some sort of missile launchers?

If you wondered what mechanism is partly visible inside the translucent bodies, it's an LED light system.  I think I'll be removing these for use elsewhere so I can glue the body cavity closed with no risk of later battery leakage!

Now I just need to think of a colour scheme.  Any suggestions from anyone?

Air transport on the cheap

 Slightly off-scale but I got a couple of these Ospreys for use as background scenery for games.  We sometimes get these flying over our little village and rather noisy they are too!

Some details are obviously incorrect such as having 4 blades on the prop instead of 3 

Other things will need to be altered, the cockpit windows are far too small. They're made of bendy "toy soldier" plastic so easy to cut.

For about £1.50 including P&P from e-bay they'll provide cheap and cheerful airfield scenery once repainted.

Diceni 2018

Gosh, I thought I'd published this months ago but there it was languishing in my "drafts" folder!

Sunday 6th May 2018 saw the Diceni games show taking place at the Forum in Norwich.  A few companies I hadn't seen there before: Sarissa Precision; Ainsty Castings; The Assault Group to name but three.  Various games in progress too, here is a small sample...


Parano Miniatures "Mythos" game - Lovecraftian otherwordly creatures fighting heroic humans teetering on the brink of madness...

 A Star Wars game - don't hold out much hope for the Rebel forces facing what looks like 2 Imperial Star Destroyers, 2 Victory Star Destroyers plus an Interdictor Cruiser!

Some sort of Japanese Samurai game.

A battle against vicious alien creatures, though the game was still to start when I was there.

Thanos vs the Avengers near a crashed TIE Interceptor?

A different Mythos game - an absolutely fantastic board but completely spoiled by the use of unpainted miniatures!  Honestly, I really don't understand some people.

Gangs of Rome.

Escape from the Dark Castle - very much a Fighting Fantasy vibe on this one, I'd have stopped for a go if I'd had more time.  I've played it with my friend Graham since then, a co-operative game, old school fun and almost every game has been very, very close (and we lost every time!).

Having a 3-year-old in tow does make it slightly difficult to appreciate everything that is going on but maybe I'll get a better chance next year?

GZG Summer Sale!

20% off 15mm and Full Thrust starships!

https://shop.groundzerogames.co.uk

Sale ends midnight Sunday 22nd July!

Armies Army BTR 260 & 290 APCs

I'm currently assembling a new force known as the "Hoplites".  The reason for this name will eventually become clear over the next few months.

Infantry wear combat hardsuits and rely on 6 and 8 wheeled amphibious armour for mobility.

I'm using Armies Army BTR 260 and 290 APCs, bought during the 20% off sale October 2017.  It turns out that only a few weeks after I placed my order, the entire sci-fi range was transferred to The Scene and some of them are now available once more.

The BTR 260s will form the light reconnaissance part of the force.

BTR 260.

BTR 260.

BTR 260.

The BTR 290 PocoMaxa or Wolverine will be the fire support vehicle for the force.  This isn't yet available from The Scene.

BTR 290 PocoMaxa aka Wolverine

BTR 290 PocoMaxa aka Wolverine

BTR 290 PocoMaxa aka Wolverine

BTR 290 APCs will be the main transport vehicles, carrying an 8 man squad plus 4 crew.

BTR 290.

BTR 290.

BTR 290.

There are distinct differences between the 260 and 290 vehicles.  The 290 seems to have additional bow armour plates as befits its heavier role.

BTR 290 on left, 260 on right.

The detail on the rear doors is more clearly defined on the back of the 260.  Mine do have slight mould lines too, I don't know if those from The Scene will too.  They're easily cleaned up with a bit of milliput.

Comparison of rear door detail.

Of course the main difference is the length of the vehicles.  The 290 is considerably longer to accommodate the additional troop capacity, with a fourth pair of wheels.  You can see that the front hatch detail is more clearly defined on the larger 290.

Comparison of length.

The BTR 290s have a slightly rough texture.

Slightly textured finish on BTR 290.

 The textured finish is visible on the front hull too.

Slightly textured finish on BTR 290.

The BTR 260 has a smoother finish but you can see its 3D printed origins in some of the fine detail.

Smoother finish on BTR 260 but with 3D printing lines visible.

Hoplite infantry are supplied by Ground Zero Games OutRim Coalition hardsuit troops.  Fire support will be missile launchers and portable plasma guns in the anti-tank role and gauss squad automatic weapons for infantry support.

Support weapons: Missile launcher, plasma gun, gauss machine gun.

Standard troops are equipped with gauss assault rifles, effective for both normal ground combat and in hard vacuum for starship boarding operations.  Their hardsuits are environmentally sealed but run on filters for ground operations, conserving their limited air supply until it is needed.

Infantry with gauss rifles.

The exact colour scheme is still to be determined but will probably involve fairly subdued greens, browns and greys.